Blackberry (RIM) Are Missing The Point!!!!

I have been waiting for a new Blackberry release for over 18 months, because I HATE touchscreen typing, as do most faithful Blackberry users.

I had the Bold 9900, which was a great phone, but the battery sucked, so I changed to the dated 9780, then my screen cracked, I'm now back on my 9700!!!! I refuse to switch to an all touchscreen alternative, and many of my friends also feel the same way about having an actual physical keyboard.

So why is the release of the Q10 delayed until April????!!!! Surely this model is Blackberry's edge over other manufacturers???? Don't sell the phone based on it's apps, operating system, or processing power, it's all about THE KEYBOARD!!!!

As an engineer I use my BB to send emails back to the office whilst on the go, and the keyboard allows me to be descriptive as possible, as quickly as possible, without having to stop constantly to correct what 'auto correct' has assumed I'm trying to write.

They should also be aiming their marketing at girls and teenagers who love to send lengthy messages to each other, using said keyboards.

[QUOTE=TheShez;7913773]I have been waiting for a new Blackberry release for over 18 months, because I HATE touchscreen typing, as do most faithful Blackberry users.

I had the Bold 9900, which was a great phone, but the battery sucked, so I changed to the dated 9780, then my screen cracked, I'm now back on my 9700!!!! I refuse to switch to an all touchscreen alternative, and many of my friends also feel the same way about having an actual physical keyboard.

So why is the release of the Q10 delayed until April????!!!! Surely this model is Blackberry's edge over other manufacturers???? Don't sell the phone based on it's apps, operating system, or processing power, it's all about THE KEYBOARD!!!!

As an engineer I use my BB to send emails back to the office whilst on the go, and the keyboard allows me to be descriptive as possible, as quickly as possible, without having to stop constantly to correct what 'auto correct' has assumed I'm trying to write.

They should also be aiming their marketing at girls and teenagers who love to send lengthy messages to each other, using said keyboards.[/QUO

No sympathy from me. There is a 9900 replacement battery with 1500 mAH (20 percent more) . You can even buy a 3300 mAH battery that comes with a new back and you can get a custom case for it. Maybe not pretty but it would have cured your Engineer blues.

I'm currently using a BlackBerry 9900 and I got to test out BB10 on a Dev Alpha B and the typing experience was phenomenal. I have always disliked full touch screen phones because of the poor typing experience, but BB10 has changed that for me. While testing out the device I was typing out long messages and was even texting people I usually wouldn't message just so I could write more with it. Now I will admit I like being able to type on my Bold 9900 without even looking at the phone, but the virtual keyboard that is on BB10 reminded me of when I first got my 9900 and I'd write paragraph long responses because it was such an enjoyable experience to type on. I'd head down to a store and test it out. The other cool things is it learns with you and gets better the more you use it. It made very few typing errors and I rarely had to hit the backspace key to fix something. That was not my experience when using an iphone, windows phone or swiftkey on my S3.

Nah....I think they nailed it this time. The battery life has been acceptable on my 9900....makes it from wake to sleep with 20% left consistently for me and I'm a heavy user (work and personal, with the music playing all day). The Q10 with the 21 mah should do the job nicely!!!! Looking forward to getting this phone!!!!

Seriously, I see at how people can complain when a brand new platform comes, and how people try to justify their anger with facts when all they should do is wait just a little while longer, and it saddens me to think we are still caught up in mindless first world problems...

You mean, you wouldn't want to wait to get a brand new Q10? **** yeah, I would.

So why is the release of the Q10 delayed until April????!!!! Surely this model is Blackberry's edge over other manufacturers???? Don't sell the phone based on it's apps, operating system, or processing power, it's all about THE KEYBOARD!!!!

If it's "all about the keyboard" then RIM would be in a much better position today than they are. Most people dropped their physical keyboard and adopted full touch screen models from the competition. This is where RIM needed to compete to try and stay afloat. It's pretty simple.

agreed @berklon. BB does not have competition in qwerty market, but just having qwerty market is not working. They clearly said they need to focus and compete against touch screen. Not sure why you are surprised OP this was stated very clearly by Thor very long time ago.

I totally agree with you. RIM made a huge mistake with this launch. Rather than a full-touch phone they should have dropped the Q10 and the slider version at the start and come in with the full-touch at a later time.

Are they going to get people to switch from iOS or Android devices to the Z10? Certainly not in the numbers that they are hoping for. Their REAL advantage is - and always has been - the awesome QWERTY keyboards on their flagship devices. The keyboard is the thing that will get people to switch back from the iPhone (as I plan to).

I totally agree with you. RIM made a huge mistake with this launch. Rather than a full-touch phone they should have dropped the Q10 and the slider version at the start and come in with the full-touch at a later time.

Are they going to get people to switch from iOS or Android devices to the Z10? Certainly not in the numbers that they are hoping for. Their REAL advantage is - and always has been - the awesome QWERTY keyboards on their flagship devices. The keyboard is the thing that will get people to switch back from the iPhone (as I plan to).

The slider and the qwerty would not be two distinct markets and would have been sharing some of the niche of sales that is qwerty nowadays, so that is why they have only gone with the more popular of those form factors.

As far as the z10 converting people from android or ios, some people will return, but the biggest market for this year is selling upgrades to people who already have a blackberry, especially those who would have otherwise moved to an all-touch device from somebody else.

While the qwerty remains their most iconic design, the days of it being their flagship device have gone along with the name rim, all-touch is what is wanted by most of the market and qwerty is now just a niche, albeit a sizable one for them.

Yes it sucks but blackberry care not a jot about it's loyal customers because we will stay. They are forgetting their roots to compete with the iPhone and Galaxy. Hence the slimmer phone and pants battery

As an engineer I use my BB to send emails back to the office whilst on the go, and the keyboard allows me to be descriptive as possible, as quickly as possible, without having to stop constantly to correct what 'auto correct' has assumed I'm trying to write.

They should also be aiming their marketing at girls and teenagers who love to send lengthy messages to each other, using said keyboards.

Spoken like a true engineer, trying to tell marketing how to do their job. ;-)

I am glad that BB has loyal customers and getting them to replace phones is critical . But a lot of BBs are bought by companies for employees and the vast number of ee's prefer the touch phones . RIM expects that the Z10 will outsell the Q10 by a wide margin . The Q10 is part of the survival strategy but BB could have not survived on the Qwerty models alone . They would have been already dead but for third world countries where the markets are not so developed . Qwerty lovers need to be happy that there is still one phone they can buy that is considered to be in the top rung.

How long did they need! I think that's tosh. They want to give the Z10 a chance before they release the Q10

You can think what you like about it being tosh, they clearly weren't able to get them both ready as quickly as they liked and focused on ensuring that the z10 did not slip as shown by the gap to the q10 increasing from the original 'a few weeks later' comments we got about it.

As far as them wanting to give the z10 a chance before releasing the q10, there has always been a degree of that along with wanting bb10 to have a clearer break from the past too, but that was covered by the original gap and this new longer one is clearly because they still need to finish the device.

If it's "all about the keyboard" then RIM would be in a much better position today than they are. Most people dropped their physical keyboard and adopted full touch screen models from the competition. This is where RIM needed to compete to try and stay afloat. It's pretty simple.

This is all true. Anybody who uses their phone as a serious communication device really likes to have a decent keyboard. Unfortunately it seems the masses prefer a shiny touchscreen and don't seem to be affected by the fact that it is less efficient. But then the masses also enjoy X Factor etc... Money talks.

I was seriously going the Z10 route. I had an iPhone and still have an Android for play and as a backup phone. I've decided my preference is a querty keyboard. I LOVE my 9780 but my lovely girlfriend has offered to buy me a 10 for the Birthday gift. I will try the virtual keyboard of the Z, but my preference is for the tactile keyboard of the Q.

I agree it's far from satisfactory but my 9800 is in great shape with a new battery in November 2012. Nothing to do now but take a number and Wait. Thankfully the Q10 is a quality,brilliant device worth waiting for. Thanks Thorstein and the team at BlackBerry.